Atlanta has always been a home to businesses of all kinds. In fact, many Fortune 500 companies are based in Atlanta. In this way, Tech offers a unique job opportunity for students, since the school is in a city packed with these top companies, a claim few other schools can make. As Tech seniors begin to graduate or look toward graduation, one big question resides in the minds of these older students: where am I going to work? Even for younger students, whose time has not yet come to get a full-time job in the real world, a big part of Tech’s success comes from the internships and co-ops it offers; it is never too early to look. All of these companies have job applications online. Adequate research and homework can help find the right fit for all majors, backgrounds and interests. With that in mind, here are some profiles of varying companies with big presences in Atlanta:
Coca Cola
Coca-Cola’s structure has two sides—the corporate side and the bottling side. Coca-Cola can also be noted for its global influence, with Coca-Cola bottling companies operating in over 200 countries. Coca-Cola has an extremely successful and recognizable marketing campaign, so a job here for MGT majors is extremely reputable.
For a small idea of the importance of advertising here, although Coca-Cola does not reveal its full budget for marketing, the amount of money allotted to marketing campaigns increased by forty million in 2010. Coca-Cola’s systems management may be the most impressive part of the company though. The Coca-Cola Company has an impressive and efficient supply chain function and encourages innovation. On the bottling side, Coca-Cola always needs bottled products finished and all cans recycled.
Industry: Beverages
CEO: Muhtar Kent
3rd Quarter Revenue: $12.2 Billion
Employees: 139,600
Top Majors: ECON, ISyE, CHBE
Turner
Turner Broadcasting, headquartered in the CNN Center, has been a profitable and successful business since its inception in the mid-70s. Founded by Ted Turner, the company is now owned by Time Warner Productions and consists of multiple cable TV channels such as CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. People searching for a job at Turner should be very familiar with media trends and have the ability to guess the needs of the consumers. Therefore, PSY majors and BA majors with a background in marketing are especially needed here. Of course, cable TV cannot run without the actual technology behind the media and communications. Engineers and especially CM majors, are all relevant to the company functioning. This would be an ideal place to work for anyone particularly interested in working in content development or production.
Industry: Entertainment
CEO: Jeffery L. Bewkes
3rd Quarter Revenue: $4.9 Billion
Employees: 9000+
Top Majors: MGT, STAC, CM
AT&T
AT&T began as over 100 small companies which banded together to form Cingular Wireless. From there, the company continued to grow and buy companies, including the huge AT&T and Cingular Wireless merger in 2004 that eventually led to “The New AT&T” and now, just AT&T.
The company offers a lot of jobs in all fields, especially engineering. AT&T has a huge infrastructure with many components, including cell towers, media channels, and high speed internet, that EE majors can maintain and operate. EnvE majors are also needed to work with the way structures are built and maintained in relation to the environment and specific regulations. Because AT&T is also extremely dependent upon information technology for its products to function properly, CS majors will always be needed and wanted.
Industry: Telecom
CEO: Randall L. Stephenson
3rd Quarter Revenue: $31.5 Billion
Employees: 40,000
Top Majors: ENVE, BA, EE, CS
Delta
Delta, founded in 1924, is headquartered at Hartsfield-Jackson, the busiest airport in the world. The airline operates a huge network of domestic and international flights to over 247 locations and is the official airline of Tech athletics. The airline maintains a large fleet of airplanes, including the largest fleet of Boeing 757 and 767s. Despite the hiring freeze in 2007 due to high fuel prices, the company is currently hiring many types of engineers and employees to take care of processes and systems. Delta currently has excellent opportunities for aerospace and mechanical engineers who are looking to maintain planes and update equipment, while management and industrial engineers control the 900 or so departing flights a day. All electrical hubs from the electronic flight control network to the online ticketing service require large IT manpower to function.
Industry: Airlines
CEO: Richard H. Anderson
3rd Quarter Revenue: $8.4 Billion
Employees: 80,000
Top Majors: ME, MGT, ISyE, PHYS